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[page 42]
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(4).
adventures, and considers that if the boot was on the other foot, that is if we were in German's place, these little enterprises would be nightly affairs and I have seen enough of the men who run our Naval small craft to know that this would be no idle boast.
As regards the ships themselves, the big ships of the Battle fleet do not at once impress a layman with their power. They are not very big and they do not bristle with guns but to thoroughly appreciate their worth you must take a tape measure to the guns for here is the overwhelming force of Britains sea power. The ships themselves do not look enormously big and their number is not very great. It is not as if you see the entire fleet steaming by as in review; you see it piecemeal, you see it at anchor and you see it apparently idle and can not at once appreciate its worth. But this worth has nothing to do with numbers, or with huge bulk, or with lightning speed. Instead of counting the ships, measuring their length and enquiring about their horse-power, look to their guns, for it is here that the shattering power of the Grand Fleet resides and it is xxxxxxxxxxxx this that keeps the German Navy locked in their bases.
What surprises one about the Fleet is the enormous number of auxiliary vessels xxxxx required to keep fighting ships in fighting trim. Over there is a fleet of fast colliers and store ships; that long low vessel with the funnel well aft is an oil fuel carrier for the oil burning destroyers etc., and that big tramp looking steamer is a repair ship crammed full of delicate machinery and capable dealing with all kinds of fleet repairs. Those graceful looking white liners with the green stripe are the fleet hospital ships and that old "wooden wall" surrounded by a swarm of small craft is the depot ship for the Fleet. Here all mails for the ships are